Please To See Bike Week Event Is Off

Let’s not be too disappointed that the massive noise pollution that results from Bike Week may be dampened a bit this year.

Instead of spending all this time and effort courting these folks, why not concentrate on luring a quieter type of visitor, like doctors for medical meetings, educators for their organizations, nurses, politicians, businesspeople, golfers, cyclists (without engines), religious groups etc.?

We recently heard from some of our relatives that they are no longer interested in coming here due to the emphasis on partying, drinking, etc. and are opting for the Delaware and Virginia shore resorts. We residents are tired of these yearly invasions of groups mainly involved with cars and motorcycles that cause public disruptions like last fall’s riots on Coastal Highway at the 45th Street shopping center parking lot by the Volkswagen Clubs from US and Canada.

If you want to sell all these expensive condos and keep people from relocating to Delaware beaches, you can’t encourage groups that cause mayhem in the streets.

Dr. Otto Laghi

Support In Tough Times
Edtior:

Sometimes, we tend to forget that employees, citizens, tourists, business owners and property owners are all stakeholders, here in our beautiful Ocean City. We, jointly, have shared the good times, the uncertain times and the bad times.

To maintain the delicate balance between these entities, we are fortunate to have a democratic and representative government, namely the Mayor and City Council — past and present members.

No one could have envisioned the depth, severity and longevity of the collapsed housing bubble here in Ocean City.

Three-fourths of Americans today believe that times are bad, economically. We, in Ocean City, have seen our individual properties decrease by $100,000 or more. That decreases property tax revenue by about $1,000 per such occurrence. The owner(s) have to eat the other $99,000, for every $100,000 decrease in market valuation of our homes/business/investment properties. To say that we owners are stressed out is the understatement of the year.

No stakeholder should expect the property owners to pony up municipal revenue deficits, while the other stakeholders get a free ride during this continuing downturn. In January 2012, Ocean City will learn of the new property tax assessment base amount and its projected property tax revenue shortfall. Further, congress is considering the elimination of income tax deductions for property taxes paid. That impact could be substantial to a second-home real estate market, such as Ocean City.

The current mayor and council are under oath to preserve and protect Ocean City. To comply with those serious and solemn obligations, this governing body must make hard choices — now, not later — that should equitably impact all stakeholders in Ocean City. Let us stakeholders always give these officials the benefit of doubt and our support. Let us not turn City Hall council chambers into a place of lesser civility and decorum.

Joe Coleman
Ocean City

Generosity Appreciated
Editor:

The Worcester County Humane Society wishes to thank everyone that responded to our plea for assistance to help with the medical expenses for our dog, Jazzy.

The procedures performed amounted to over $5,000 and through the outpouring of generosity we received over $3,000 to offset these costs. Jazzy is happy, playful and settling into her new forever home. We appreciate the community support.

Kenille Davies
(The writer is the director of the Worcester County Humane Society.)

Grateful For Help
Editor:

I would like to extend a very big thank you to the EMT and Ocean City police officer who found and brought me my wallet on Saturday night that I had haphazardly left at the Princess Royale the night before. As you can imagine, it was such a relief to have it returned to me with all my financial and personal information intact.

Thank you so much. It is great to know there are still people in this world doing the right thing.

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